County Inspections - Building Codes

[MNBobcat]

By the way, we (the Township) pay $12 a yard for gravel. You're talking less than a couple hundred bucks to satisfy the requirements. Not a big deal at all.

 

[Beltzington]

I sit on our town board and was the roads supervisor last year.

There seems to be a lot of confusion. They are not talking the width of the driveway at all. If the driveway is 16 feet wide it will remain 16 feet wide. What they want is the last 20 feet of length in gravel where it matches up to the blacktop. Still 16 feet wide. That's pretty common. Especially if commercial traffic is involved.


They just want the gravel to keep mud from being dragged onto the blacktop. Also, the gravel helps prevent the edge of the blacktop road from being damaged as it provides more support for the traffic as it enters onto the blacktop. They don't want the edge of their expensive blacktop being broken and cracked.

I am always confounded by this type of response. There is no confusion, by the diagram the gravel needs to be 6" deep, 20' wide and 50' long. Your experience may be different but there is no way to misinterpret the diagram. Having read and followed flow-charts and schematics for 30+ years it is always frustrating being given a clear standard and then being advised by people in the industry that "it depends." If you travel you can be assured the pilot does not take the approach charts as casually.

 

[MNBobcat]

I am always confounded by this type of response. There is no confusion, by the diagram the gravel needs to be 6" deep, 20' wide and 50' long. Your experience may be different but there is no way to misinterpret the diagram. Having read and followed flow-charts and schematics for 30+ years it is always frustrating being given a clear standard and then being advised by people in the industry that "it depends." If you travel you can be assured the pilot does not take the approach charts as casually.

That drawing also shows a culvert and a speed bump. I highly doubt that drawing was specific to your site. Rather, I suspect it was meant to convey an example but not necessarily the required specs for your situation.

You should start by reviewing the city or county zoning ordinances and then talk to the city/county before talking to the inspector. Sometimes you will get conflicting information. The main thing is to do the research first.

For example, in my local there is a form to be filled out when putting in a driveway attaching to a county road. The width is greater for a commercial driveway versus residential and the form specifies the options. When you said retirement home I took that as meaning your personal residence. You should not need a driveway wider than 16 feet.

Something is definitely rotten in Denmark.

 

[EddieWalker]

The last couple of comments got me to thinking of my neighbor. He is a commercial pilot that has flown everything from 757's to China to private jets for celebrities. He is so detail orientated that when he saw the county tax assessors map of who owns what, he took it to be factual and felt that I built my pond on his land and about an acre of it was his. I tried to explain to him that the map was just a guideline of where the property lines where kind of where located. He didn't believe me and said that nobody in government would publish something like that. He then spent several thousands of dollars having the property line cleared after paying for a surveyor to find and remark the corner pins. Now that he's spent the money and cleared the area, he's learned that the edge of the pond is more then 200 feet from the property line, he hasn't said a word about it. I think he just couldn't grasp the concept of a map not being meant to be accurate.

Eddie

 

[MNBobcat]

The last couple of comments got me to thinking of my neighbor. He is a commercial pilot that has flown everything from 757's to China to private jets for celebrities. He is so detail orientated that when he saw the county tax assessors map of who owns what, he took it to be factual and felt that I built my pond on his land and about an acre of it was his. I tried to explain to him that the map was just a guideline of where the property lines where kind of where located. He didn't believe me and said that nobody in government would publish something like that. He then spent several thousands of dollars having the property line cleared after paying for a surveyor to find and remark the corner pins. Now that he's spent the money and cleared the area, he's learned that the edge of the pond is more then 200 feet from the property line, he hasn't said a word about it. I think he just couldn't grasp the concept of a map not being meant to be accurate.

Eddie

Good story! To your point, a person has to do their own research and not rely on what anyone in government is telling you. I was involved on a task force recently with the County where the County attorney clearly knew nothing about the law. He was suggesting the County could do something that I knew was against State statutes.

In the case of the driveway, it all comes down to what the ordinance for the city/county says in writing. Opinions don't matter. Don't assume the city/county staff or the inspector are right or know what they are talking about. Start with reviewing the ordinances.

I tried to check into it (Ordinances - Baxley GA Official Site) but the ordinances aren't published. I found it amusing that no Zoning department was listed either.

 

[MrWhippy]

Of course, inspectors work both ways. When we had major home renovations done (added on, renovated kitchen, etc), the contractor recommended an electrician who pulled the permits. Because our home was a one off job, every time he was called by a contractor for multiple home work, our project just sat. I even pulled all the wiring for the new kitchen, so all he had to do was hook it up in the panel box and the kitchen boxes. At 3 months past when ALL construction was done (except the electric), my wife called for the final electrical inspection and then called the electrician and told him when the inspector was going to be at the house.

He was pissed, came in and spent 2 days finishing up (the first time he had been at the house for 2 full days in a row). I had the weekend to look for problems (covers not installed mostly) before the Monday inspection. The guy did NOT want a failed inspection on his record (apparently it plays against him when he has to renew his state license).

 

[paulharvey]

Good story! To your point, a person has to do their own research and not rely on what anyone in government is telling you. I was involved on a task force recently with the County where the County attorney clearly knew nothing about the law. He was suggesting the County could do something that I knew was against State statutes.

In the case of the driveway, it all comes down to what the ordinance for the city/county says in writing. Opinions don't matter. Don't assume the city/county staff or the inspector are right or know what they are talking about. Start with reviewing the ordinances.

I tried to check into it (Ordinances - Baxley GA Official Site) but the ordinances aren't published. I found it amusing that no Zoning department was listed either.

My experience on both side of this (contractor and inspector) is that if you just talk to them, it clears a lot up.

When I was a construction superintendent, we approached it as; if a couple hundred bucks or few hours time, it's not worth the fight, even if they are wrong. If you prove them wrong, you still have to deal with them again, and you being a dick won't give you any slack.

Now, on the opposite side; I have no issue listening to arguments, and if you have a legit point, I'm plenty flexible. Come up with an argument of "I'm not doing this or that and i don't care" or worse yet "I'll just do X when you leave" is not going to help you any.

There are also times an inspector can't be flexible. Just left a meeting telling a gas company they just installed 1500 lf of 6" gas main in conflict with road work; and they have the burden of A: moving it, or B: proving it's not in conflict. I guess C is also an option; wait until road contractor starts, and pay delay fees of ~$15,000/day and still have to move it.


It's important to know what an inspector wants and/or needs. Some are big on one thing and let other stuff go; others focus on other areas. Nothing ever built and no set of plans ever drawn are 100% perfect; and good inspectors just try to get the best end result in an unperfect world. Others will be dead set on following the plans right off a cliff.

Another thing, contrary to popular belief city/county employees are often job scared. They are Far from unfireable, and it's becoming more and more of a CYA job.

 

[Country Geek]

Speaking of reliability of maps, I remember sitting in a town council meeting many years ago while CVS tried to rezone land they owned to build a store. Turns out they had relied on a zoning map on the town's website when buying the land and thought they had the right zoning. But that map was inaccurate (and had included a fine-print disclaimer) and they did not have the correct zoning. The town denied their rezoning, said it was their problem for not doing more due dilligence, and in the end the lot was sold and the CVS was never built.

So no, you can't bet on casual maps even those provided by the authorities.

 

[Country Geek]

Of course, inspectors work both ways. When we had major home renovations done (added on, renovated kitchen, etc), the contractor recommended an electrician who pulled the permits. Because our home was a one off job, every time he was called by a contractor for multiple home work, our project just sat. I even pulled all the wiring for the new kitchen, so all he had to do was hook it up in the panel box and the kitchen boxes. At 3 months past when ALL construction was done (except the electric), my wife called for the final electrical inspection and then called the electrician and told him when the inspector was going to be at the house.

He was pissed, came in and spent 2 days finishing up (the first time he had been at the house for 2 full days in a row). I had the weekend to look for problems (covers not installed mostly) before the Monday inspection. The guy did NOT want a failed inspection on his record (apparently it plays against him when he has to renew his state license).

A friend at work has a similar problem. He had some work done on his house at the same time as an HVAC replacement. City HVAC inspector noticed the other work and asked about the permit. Contractor had not pulled one. Friend called the contractor who said he never pulls permits and doesn't think he needs one, but will do one for this job if my friend pays him extra to do so. Friend said no extra money, this is your responsibility as a contractor. Contractor then said other fine, I'm ignoring it unless the city follows up on it. Last I head they were at an impasse.

I've told my friend he should just call for an inspection and tell the contractor he's doing so. Contractor will either get off his butt, or get busted for doing work without a permit. He is licensed so I assume that would not work out well for him.

My main concern is that the unpermitted work will bite my friend when he goes to sell the house, which he is planning to in a few years.

 

[s219]

I got in a situation where the contractor who drove pilings for my dock and built the frame got a permit but never called for the final inspection. That was 1.5 years ago. County finally caught up with him a couple weeks ago and was pissed at the guy because he had a poor attitude. To keep them happy, I paid for an electrical permit and they came out and inspected that without any problems found. Electrical was all my work, so I was a bit worried, but it passed and got favorable comments (inspector said I did my homework). Now they need to come back for final inspection of the whole pier. I will remember to ride herd on contractors about permits after this experience. Don't assume they have it covered or care.